


i saw a fox (by the rabbit hole)

by kimwonpil



Category: Day6 (Band), GOT7, JJ Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Fights, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Goblin Im Jaebum | JB, Gumiho Kim Wonpil, Hurt/Comfort, Kim Wonpil & Park Jinyoung are Best Friends, Kim Wonpil-centric, Magic, Magic-Users, Minor Injuries, Pixie Park Jinyoung, Platonic Relationships, Slow Burn, probably..., the other four are humans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:47:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27634976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimwonpil/pseuds/kimwonpil
Summary: Wonpil had nine tails now. Each one as red and vibrant as the last, flourishing from him and refusing to stay still.It was rather troublesome most of the time, illusions and spells could only last so long until even the humans became suspicious after all. Wonpil had lived many lives and ended just as many but his ability to mask the tails never improved.(or: wonpil is a lone gumiho who is forced to lose his immortality, in hopes that he could find his humanity in return. in true cliched fashion, he ends up finding much more.)
Relationships: Im Jaebum | JB/Park Jinyoung, Kang Younghyun | Young K & Kim Wonpil, Kang Younghyun | Young K/Yoon Dowoon, Kim Wonpil & Everyone, Kim Wonpil & Park Jaehyung | Jae, Kim Wonpil & Park Sungjin, Kim Wonpil & Yoon Dowoon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	i saw a fox (by the rabbit hole)

**Author's Note:**

> me, for the last few fics: this is the most self-indulgent thing i have ever written  
> me now: i lied, this is the most self-indulgent
> 
> and i am telling the truth this time!! i actually caved into my hyperfixation on tale of the nine-tailed and this fic is a product of that. however, you don't have to know the show to read the fic! i really really enjoyed writing this and there's a second part still to come. i hope everyone is doing okay, remember to stay hydrated and stay safe!! i love you guys <3 /p
> 
> (title is from run rabbit run by the hoosiers)

_  
  
I have only ever known death,_  
_sharp and cold like the enemy’s blade._  
_Should death approach me once again,_  
_I wish for it to kill me properly._  
_Send me into the endless sleep,_  
_let me see the oblivion of mortality._

Wonpil had nine tails now. Each one as red and vibrant as the last, flourishing from him and refusing to stay still.

It was rather troublesome most of the time, illusions and spells could only last so long until even the humans became suspicious after all. Wonpil had lived many lives and ended just as many but his ability to mask the tails never improved.

“You were rather weak, for a decorated Fae that is.” Wonpil sighed, nudging at the limp body of his latest victim and watching as the Fae lost more blood from the gaping wound to his side. It was pitiful really, how people raised these creatures to superiority in the mythical world, and yet they died so easily. All it took was a well placed kick to the head, a swipe of his knife and a strong bite to their waist and they were bleeding out. Wonpil would have drawn out the fight in the old days, where killing was fun and blood tasted far sweeter. Now his stomach was not so fond.

Wonpil left the Fae for someone to find, surely a wandering teenager or unsuspecting workman would get a kick out of discovering such a creature at the crack of dawn. Although their mythical features would be hidden, and the sight to a human would be far more gruesome than to a Gumiho.

But, for now, Wonpil couldn't care less. The night was a dangerous place to be, even for a Gumiho who had danced with Death and her friends for centuries.

So with his nine tails safely concealed, Wonpil disappeared into the night, nothing but the shadows and stars watching him go.

“You’re back early Foxy…” The voice sounded like satin to Wonpil’s ears, soft and dreamy and lusciously rich. Once upon a time he would have been swept away by its lilting tones, now he only scoffed at its appearance.

“Well, the job was easy, Pixie.” Wonpil grumbled, setting down his knife for the man in front of him to clean, knowing that he would do a subpar job and the man would only laugh at him later.

“Come on Pillie, stop looking so down, what did you expect to happen when you’re the best fighter we’ve got.”

“I don’t know Jinyoung, I expected to be defeated for once, maybe?”

“Oh, so you have a death wish now? Those are the most curious of wishes.” Jinyoung chuckled, as if he was somehow endeared by Wonpil’s darkened thoughts, giggling away to the tune of his sorrows. Wonpil hated it. He _hated_ the pixie too.

Jinyoung had been the creature he’d known the longest, a pixie of royal blood who had lived some five hundred years and was just shy of being as old as Wonpil. They’d crossed paths during the era of bloodshed and mutiny, where kings turned on their allies and drank with their enemies. Creatures such as Wonpil and Jinyoung could only watch from the shadows in distaste. That was where their companionship began. Over the years they’d forged some sort of inescapable bond, both of them working for a magical guild to eradicate the peskiest of creatures that wanted to expose their kind to the world. Gumiho were very rarely sent to do the jobs until Wonpil walked in and refused to leave without work.

But times had changed and Wonpil had grown bored, now he watched as Jinyoung settled down with some stupidly handsome _Dokkaebi_ named Jaebeom whilst he was left to fend for himself once again. Jobs had been stretched thin and handed out to those with less money and even less experience; Jinyoung said Wonpil should take a break instead but Wonpil simply didn’t know how to do so. All he’d ever known was the fine knife’s edge between life and death, slowing down simply wasn’t on his itinerary.

“Ah, Wonpil, you’re back!” And there was the man himself, Im Jaebeom, who acted more like he was some happy-go-lucky student than a goblin with a millennia of troubles under his belt. Wonpil turned to face him with an expression of mirth, amused by the way Jaebeom skipped over and greeted Jinyoung before looking back to the Gumiho once more. “The boss says it has a job for you, something big supposedly.”

And oh did that sound interesting. The boss never gave out jobs, that was Jinyoung’s line of work usually. So whatever was going on must have been serious, Wonpil’s heart leaping with excitement.

“I’ll go right away.”

“Wonpil,” Jaebeom began solemnly, placing a hand on his shoulder before he could leave. “Be careful, it’s not in a good mood.”

With a nod of his head, Wonpil left the couple to their own devices as he meandered through the halls of the guild with feet that knew exactly where to go. Wonpil had only been summoned to the boss’ office a handful of times, but one could never forget the way there. Up the stairs, take the left towards the elevator on the third floor and then take that all the way to the top. The elevator doors opened out onto an expansive hallway, plush ruby carpet lining the floor as Wonpil made a beeline for the grand doorway.

He lingered for a second before he knocked, the door swinging open without a word and Wonpil stepped inside. The interior of the penthouse office was dark, only lit by flickering candles, every single one precariously placed on the ground as the wax dripped into the cracks of the floorboards. Wonpil stepped over each one, avoiding what looked like an etched magic circle and hopping around the rune stones which decorated the entrance to the boss’ main workspace. 

“Kim Wonpil, Gumiho, please enter.” Said the bellowing voice, echoing around the room in a way which seemed rather otherworldly. Wonpil could do nothing but follow it to its source, sitting down in a chair by the dimly lit desk. He didn’t dare to get comfortable, however, their boss had no time for comfort.

“Jaebeom said you had a job for me.”

“I do, Gumiho, I do.” The voice seemed rather ominous today; a few sheets of paper, tied with a loose piece of string being pushed towards Wonpil as it continued to speak. “I have received word of your skills from each and every corner of this city. They say that all nine of your tails are now visible to them, a testament to the amount of souls you have rid this world of. No one kills quite like you do, but you’ve grown despondent, haven’t you Gumiho?”

“No, sir, I promise I haven’t—”

“—Lies! I have seen your innermost thoughts, they were revealed to me the moment you stepped out of that elevator and past the ley line. You wish for death Gumiho and I cannot let a fighter like you pass away so easily. You will find your spirit again, do not step foot in my guild until you do.” Wonpil’s boss was but a mass of shadows, curling darkness and raging ink that sprawled out to every corner of the room as its voice grew louder and more insistent. Wonpil was terrified, for once in his life he feared for what would happen next.

“Read those papers, for they contain my proposition. If you do not agree then I will gladly feed you to the Manticores or let a Gwisin take your soul, but you will agree, I know you will, oh frail Gumiho.” And with that the shadows disappeared. Wonpil blinked his eyes shut for a single moment and found himself back inside the elevator, the button pressed for the ground floor. He hated ancient magic, he hated how his boss scared him.

“I suppose it did not go well?” Jaebeom asked once Wonpil had reached the ground floor, exiting the elevator in a daze as he tried to gain hold of his bearings.

“No, no it did not. There is no job, our boss wishes for me to take a break, it knows I crave death.”

“Craving death is a very dangerous thing Wonpil, I would take its advice. What did our boss write for you?”

Wonpil could only shrug at that, the papers in his hand very much secondary to the shock he was in. Eventually, he was guided over to a table by Jaebeom, eyes coming back into focus at long last so that he could read whatever had been given to him.

There was little there that was of any importance, only scrawled paragraphs outlining the terms of his extended leave. He stopped short, however, at one particular sentence, barely even a footnote amongst the wall of cursive text.

“Oh dear Gods…” He grumbled, scrunching up the paper in his hand and smudging the ink over his palm. Wonpil didn’t bother to indulge Jaebeom or Jinyoung in what he saw, he needed to leave the guild before fate decided to meddle with him anymore.

_‘Your immortality is finished until you return wanting to live, I know - despite your cravings and wishes - that you fear death, little Gumiho.’_

Wonpil wished for nothing now but sanity.

Back when the world was young and flowers bloomed underfoot, Wonpil wandered amongst the humans with ease. They could not see his tails, nor his ears or golden eyes; everything was normal and everything was as it should be. The other mythical creatures tend to stir up the most trouble, trying to swipe him into their brawls or make him wager for his life in a duel. Obviously, being a Gumiho, Wonpil won every time. He had an arsenal of powers at his disposal, as well as the most beautifully fashioned weapons and skin which could deflect swords like the thickest of steel.

When rumours started flying about - of the boy that never aged - Wonpil had to run. His nine tails had dragged behind him as he traversed across the mountains and valleys, rushing to get away from a fate he had not yet realised he was bound to. Wonpil wished for safety and humanity and love, but the Gods had not been so kind despite his daily prayers.

At first, there had been Jinyoung, when he had settled down to camp on the edge of the kingdom’s capital, he had found the pixie, weak and alone. They became fast friends, laughing at nymphs and cursing the heavens for the plight they had to go through. Because they may as well have been banished Gods, all of their power and wisdom and immortality was for naught though, they were trapped on earth until it heaved its last breath.

“Have you ever wanted to be human?” Jinyoung had asked, face glowing from the flames of their campfire, cheeks stuffed with fish and stolen carrots from a farmers nearby allotment.

“Not really, for as much as I wish to truly live, it seems scary… To die.” Wonpil mumbled out his last words, a testament to the trials which humans faced - ones that he would never understand. Back then, dying was scary and something Wonpil wished to never encounter. He fought and killed so many, but did not want to bring that same wrath upon himself.

However, centuries of bloodshed and loss changed the Gumiho. It would change anyone after all.

“—What can I get you sir?”

A voice interrupted Wonpil’s internal monologue, bringing the Gumiho’s head up to look at the man standing across the bar. He didn’t know what had brought him here, Wonpil wasn’t one to indulge in alcohol or other silly little human pleasures, but he supposed that he was halfway human in that moment, and the idea of drinking himself into oblivion seemed rather appealing.

“I don’t mind, you can choose.” Wonpil huffed, resting his head atop his arms that were placed on the table. The bartender chuckled and decided to go with Wonpil’s request, shuffling away to prepare a concoction that Wonpil really didn’t like the smell of.

The place he’d wound up in was rather quiet and subdued, but he had expected no different after midnight on a weekday, the world slow and trundling on by as even the news readers on the TV screen seemed half asleep. Every so often a new figure would wander in, either taking a seat at the bar or in one of the more secluded booths. So far, Wonpil was the only mythical creature there, from what he could tell, there was the faint passing scent of a vampire, but they had long since left. Wonpil couldn’t stand vampires and their putrid stench, he would definitely know if one was close by.

“Here you go.” Said the bartender with a smile, placing down a glass with what smelt like a strong mix of various alcoholic drinks, meshing together and making Wonpil’s head feel fuzzy already.

“Thanks.” Wonpil said quietly and brought the glass up to his lips. But he stopped short when the clock chimed once and the air turned sour.

_Chuksi._

The time of the otherworld had descended onto Wonpil without him even realising, the glass in his hands going cold as the rim crackled and iced over. He yelped and quickly put it down, barely able to dodge the sudden swipe as the bartender lunged for him. Everyone else in the bar dispersed in a fit of screams and scrambling feet, Wonpil unable to move as he stared down the bartender.

Between the hours of one and three in the morning, Chuksi occurred, the paths between realities and dimensions blurred and monsters were afoot. Wonpil hadn’t expected to come into contact with such monsters tonight.

“Don’t take one more step little Gumiho.” The bartender growled, eyes having turned dark and hooded as scales crept up his skin and shimmered in the dim lights of the room. _An Imugi?_ Wonpil questioned, tilting his head to the side as he regarded the shifting creature curiously. Its scales came and went as the light above them swung to and fro, the bartender’s face going from green to his normal hue over and over again. “An Imugi, you say?” Came a sinister giggle, the hairs on the back of Wonpil’s neck standing up straight as he prickled with tension. Great, the creature could even hear his thoughts. “You would be correct, I will be an Imugi, as soon as this stupid human lets me take over his soul.” The bartender spoke almost monotonously and Wonpil realised what was going on.

During Chuksi souls of the dead also came to the human world to play, it just so happened that an Imugi soul had wandered through the veil too and taken over an unsuspecting human. If Wonpil didn’t do something quick, the bar was probably about to be completely destroyed by a demonic dragon spirit with a hunger for human blood.

“That’s not going to happen.”

“And why would you care? I thought Gumiho like you ate humans anyway?” The Imugi chuckled and cocked his head to the side, the scales sliding up his neck and wrapping around his throat. _Like a noose,_ Wonpil thought darkly, _wrapping around his human soul and destroying it from the inside out._

“That’s quite old fashioned now, don’t you think? I have more refined tastes these days.” Wonpil replied with a smug grin, pushing himself up and clenching his fists, fully prepared to spar with the Imugi if fate so chose to swing that way. “For example: Dragon’s blood, I find that quite suits my palette.” Wonpil continued with a shrug of his shoulders, eyes narrowing just slightly as he stared down the Imugi, who seemed to be at war with its human host, stumbling around the place and tripping over his own feet. It was almost laughable, how these souls acted so big and tough when they could barely control a human. So much for a good fight.

“You won’t be able to have any, you’ll be dead before you get close… The spirits are talking about you, Gumiho, they say you can be killed now.” The bartender’s voice had dropped an octave, eyes flashing red as he took a step forward in Wonpil’s direction as the Gumiho took a step back. He knew word would travel fast, perhaps not this fast, but it seemed news of his mortality was now common knowledge nonetheless, if even the most inexperienced of Imugi had caught wind of it.

“I can be killed, that is correct, you won't be the one to do it though.”

And with that Wonpil sprung forward, tackling the bartender to the ground as the Imugi's spirit shouted archaic curses and vulgar words of pain and punishment. It all fell on Wonpil's deaf ears, the Gumiho straddling his prey with amber eyes and a fanged smile.

“Not so smug now huh?”

“You'll pay for this, you piece of shit! Fate will have your head, she will!” The bartender spat up at Wonpil as he only just managed to evade the gross action, reaching his hand into the air as a cloud of mist formed around his palm. Within a second there was a blade in his fist, the hilt black and worn with age and the knife sharp enough to cut through even the coldest of hearts. It was with this very blade that Wonpil had ended his first life and it would end the life of this Imugi too, soon enough. He did not care that the dragon was in the body of a human, it had to die.

“—Wonpil! Wonpil wait… Don't kill him! Wonpil listen to me!”

“Huh?”

It took a second for Wonpil to drop his weapon, the sword melting into air as he looked up at whoever had spoken to him. An exasperated groan left his lips as he saw the running figure. Jinyoung. Of course.

“That's a human Won—”

“—It's an Imugi.”

“A human, end of story.” Jinyoung said with a glare that was probably far more deadly than the blade Wonpil owned. “Get off the human Wonpil.” He continued, not allowing Wonpil a chance to argue as he pulled the Gumiho to his feet, dragging him by his wrist back to the bar. “Stay here.”

“Yes Dad.” Wonpil grumbled and watched as Jinyoung approached the _Imugi_ \- definitely not a human. The creature writhed on the ground as Jinyoung stood over him, scales covering almost every inch of the bartender's skin by now in various shades of sickening green. 

Wonpil had no idea what Jinyoung intended to do with the spirit, he didn't even realise Jinyoung was watching over him in the first place. Well, it was probably Jaebeom watching over him with some weird power of his, but Jinyoung was a faster runner and a better babysitter and therefore looking after Wonpil was his job.

“I'm going to remove the Imugi from the human's soul. Should be easy enough, the spirit is a weak one, he just wanted to kill you for the reward.” Jinyoung said with a wave of his hand, extending his palms above the Imugi's body and starting to mutter a spell that Wonpil couldn't translate. It was probably an ancient pixie script he hadn't yet studied.

“And what reward would that be exactly?” Wonpil asked and didn't get a reply, Jinyoung too absorbed in his spell and the Imugi. Watching the pixie work was always interesting, the bright light that surrounded his whole being as he cast his magic was enthralling. Wonpil's eyes grew wide when he saw the Imugi's spirit become detached from the human, rising up in a ball of dark energy, crackling and going taut within the restraints of Jinyoung's magic.

“Now don't go causing trouble, return to your own realm.” Jinyoung told the spirit as if he was speaking to a troublesome child rather than a deadly dragon. But the Imugi seemed to comply, floating away until it dissolved into nothing and Jinyoung seemed satisfied to call it a day, kneeling down to inspect the human a moment later. “Huh… He's cute, for a human.” The pixie mumbled and poked at the man's cheek, hesitantly scooping him up into his arms and deciding to place him down on a long table, so that he wasn't on the grimy floor.

“Is he dead?” Wonpil mused aloud, blinking owlishly as he tiptoed over to the table, getting up close to the human’s face and inspecting him once over.

“Nope, still alive. He’ll definitely be traumatised when he wakes up however, I pity him.” Jinyoung sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a wave of pixie dust cascading onto the floor as it often did when he’d cast a particularly taxing spell.

“You still didn’t tell me what the reward was…” Wonpil said after a beat of silence, peering up at Jinyoung and inwardly cursing the fact that he felt so short and small in the other man’s presence, he was a pixie for goodness sake, they weren’t supposed to be tall!

“It’s not a question of what, Wonpil, but rather how much?” Jinyoung chuckled, as if he didn’t hold the secret to the price of Wonpil’s life, taking one last look at the human on the table before turning back around to face Wonpil. “Five hundred and ninety-four gold bars, one for each year of your life. All of the other magical guilds and the different dimensions have decided that it’s a good enough price, their leaders came together to decide to catch you. You’re one of the last of your kind and they want rid of the Gumiho that kills their greatest assets.”

“Greatest assets?! I only kill the creatures that try to reveal our kind to the human world!”

“Yes Wonpil, but some of them believe we should be putting humans in their place, some of them want to come out of the shadows and rule.” Jinyoung said without a sliver of a doubt and Wonpil knew just how dangerous these creatures were, just how tainted their intentions had become.

“I see, what should I do?”

“Maybe not use your powers for a start, the Imugi only appeared because you were using your heightened senses at the time.”

“But if I hadn’t used them I probably would have drunk that god-awful cocktail and thrown up.” Wonpil grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. He was interrupted from voicing his protests anymore when someone else threw open the door to the bar and wandered in.

“Jinyoung, I told you not to run off like that honey…”

At that, Wonpil decided to gag, Jinyoung only whacking his arm as he walked up to his boyfriend and gave Jaebeom a kiss in place of an apology. Wonpil gagged again.

“I know but Wonpil was about to do something stupid.” Jinyoung said and both of them turned around to look at the Gumiho in question, Wonpil waving innocently at them both and causing Jaebeom to roll his eyes. Wonpil was pretty sure that Jaebeom had probably been his actual parent in a past life, he seemed to worry about Wonpil more than he worried about himself.

“I’m guessing you’re going to need my help?” Jaebeom asked and Wonpil paused, mulling over something in his head as a plan started to form. It seemed that Jinyoung knew his ‘plan-forming’ face very well, as he started to get impatient the longer Wonpil took to answer, knowing that whatever words were about to come out of the Gumiho’s mouth wouldn’t be particularly sensible.

If you had asked Wonpil a few hours ago what he was going to do with his now mortal life, he wouldn’t have had a clue. But now there was a human on the table and Jaebeom right there, with his ability to wipe memories or alter them. Wonpil needed an escape from the world of myth and magic and the opportunity to do so had finally presented itself.

“Do you think you could alter the human’s memories, make him think I’m some sort of old friend? That way I could pose as needing a place to stay and I’ll be out of your hair.” He knew that the plan would appeal to Jinyoung, they’d been in much more than just each other's hair for the better part of five centuries. Jaebeom also seemed to look convinced, nodding his head after a moment of contemplation and leaning over the human on the table, placing his fingertips on the man’s temples.

“Okay…” Jaebeom began, closing his eyes and letting his magic cross over the threshold of the human’s mind and into his subconscious. Once, Jaebeom had told him that rearranging and creating memories was like picking a lock, all the grooves and nicks and careful manoeuvres needed to open a door mirroring the way a Dokkaebi would enter a person’s psyche. “His name is Park Sungjin, he’s twenty-seven and has worked at this bar for the past six months, he has another job as a journalist but it’s… Not going great.” Jaebeom chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, opening his eyes and turning to look at Wonpil. “What should I do?”

“Tell him I’m an old friend from university who he needs to look after since my landlord… I don’t know… Kicked me out because I couldn’t pay rent or something? Is that a human problem?”

“Sounds about right.” Jinyoung mused from beside the other pair, still inspecting the human in a way that Jaebeom would probably question him about later. But Wonpil couldn’t care less, he needed a place to hide in the human world and this Sungjin guy might just be his answer.

“One human problem coming up!” Jaebeom said with a chirpy tone, sounding much more alive and awake than Wonpil felt in that moment. He’d had such a long day, he hadn’t even slept in over twenty-four hours. Now that he was basically human, Wonpil supposed that would need to change and he’d need to adopt a proper sleep schedule. How annoying.

Jaebeom’s hands pressed to the side of Sungjin’s face, the goblin concentrating all of his magic and trying to infuse the new and fake memories in with the old, entwining them with Sungjin’s past. Wonpil was sure that the Fates would be reeling up in the heavens right now, but they were the ones who had given Jaebeom such a power in the first place, complaining would be nothing short of hypocritical.

There was no more time for lamenting over the finer details of the Fates however, because Sungjin woke up with a start a moment later, spluttering as Jaebeom drew back and stared down at the human with an expression that resembled an overly-curious puppy. Wonpil hopped down from the bar stool he’d been perched on, his appearance flickering and changing within the blink of an eye as he made his way over to Sungjin. The Gumiho hadn’t done much to alter his face nor his body, except for his golden eyes turning brown and his stature getting a little taller - he was far too small and lithe usually and Wonpil was fed up with it. His clothes however, had changed from a tight fitting suit - the uniform of the guild, with its golden emblem embroidered on the sleeve - to something more comfortable and fitting of the twenty-first century.

“Wonpil? Is that you?” Sungjin’s words rolled off his tongue convincingly. Wow, Jaebeom did a good job… Wonpil mused to himself, nodding his head as he pushed past Jaebeom who was still staring Sungjin down, as if trying to figure out how the human worked. But Sungjin wasn’t some sort of complex automaton, he was frazzled and tired and hopefully he had a comfy enough couch, otherwise Wonpil’s near future was looking bleak.

“Yes it’s me, it’s nice to see you again Sungjin-hyung.” Wonpil’s voice was meek and shy, a far-cry from his usual tone and he could hear Jinyoung scoff in disbelief somewhere behind him.

“It’s uhm… It’s nice to see you too. What happened, I think I blacked out?”

Wonpil giggled and now he could practically hear Jinyoung rolling his eyes, playing the part of the cute university friend easily as he took another step in Sungjin’s direction.

“Don’t you remember? Oh you must have hit your head quite bad, there was someone who came in trying to rob the place and you tried to defend yourself but you got pushed against the bar and hit your head.” Wonpil explained, trying to put on his most pitying expression as Sungjin’s shoulders slumped in equal parts confusion and defeat.

“I’m guessing everything is okay now right?” He asked quietly, looking over Wonpil’s still-short form when he heard the other pair of voices and Wonpil quickly jumped in to answer.

“Yes, yes it is! Those two are… Well, I don’t really know. But you offered me a place to stay and I think we should get going.” Wonpil rambled, wincing when he realised just how awkward he probably sounded to Sungjin; but the man was obviously too tired to care, nodding his head and rising to his feet on shaky legs.

“You’re probably going to have to help me walk Wonpil.” Sungjin said after a moment of unsuccessful steps, wobbling a little as he tried to steady himself. Wonpil could only wordlessly assist his new human companion, hooking an arm around him so that Sungjin could lean against his side as they made their way out of the bar. Behind them, Jaebeom and Jinyoung watched them leave, an array of emotions passing over their faces as Jinyoung mumbled something about bets and how long Wonpil would last amongst the humans.

Wonpil didn’t think he’d last very long at all.

The walk back to Sungjin’s place wasn’t long but it took time, Sungjin needing a break every few moments to calm his still racing heart. The Imugi had really done a number on him apparently. Wonpil had seen all sorts of creatures being bound together by an Imugi, but none of them had come out of such a situation alive and the Gumiho was now unsure of how to handle his current predicament. He chose to lie, and lie some more if Sungjin ever caught wind of what was going on.

“Is this it?” He asked when they rounded a corner and arrived in front of a modest looking house, one storey and with a flourishing garden out front that could put Jinyoung’s and the other pixie’s allotment at the guild to shame.

“Yep, my key is in my pocket.” Sungjin gestured to the side of his jacket and Wonpil fished out the key, hobbling over to the door with Sungjin in tow, the man’s strength depleting fast as he grew tired.

But Wonpil didn’t have a chance to use the key at all, the door swinging open and revealing three faces and the strong, strong smell of humans that Wonpil didn’t even need his powers to sense.

“Oh, I forgot to mention. These are my other friends: Jae, Younghyun and Dowoon, we share a house together now.”

_Shit.  
  
  
  
_

**Author's Note:**

> here's my twitter :D : [@acepiri](https://twitter.com/acepiri)  
> 


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